How do we most identify yourselves? If someone asked: Who are you?, how would we answer this question. Would it be male or female? Our ethnic group? Our occupation? Or our religion? The people of Ancient Israel wanted to know who Jesus was, too, how he identified himself. With the answer Jesus gave, the crowd wanted to stone him, to put him to death. He tells them: “Before Abraham came into being, I AM.” As Christians, we believe that Jesus is not an ordinary human being, but many of his day could get beyond that. They did not understand that Jesus existed from the beginning of eternity. In their point of view, how dare Jesus declare that he existed before their patriarch Abraham. How dare he make such a proclamation. As God remembers his covenant with his people, as we remember the covenant God made with Abraham and descendants, we realize that no matter how many times we break our promises to God, God word stands forever. If we renew our faith and turn back to the Lord no matter what our sins, he forgives us and welcomes us back. Lent may have been a challenging time for us. It may have been really hard for us to keep our Lenten disciplines. We may have been hoping for a life-giving, renewing Lent for us, but no matter how hard we tried, things did not work out. However, it is never too late to turn back to the Lord. It is never too late to repent. Pope Francis asserts that “Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.” However, what we have learned from our Lenten journey does not have to end after these 40 days. May the Lord continue to bless us on our journey, no matter where we are at. Remember, as our psalmist declares,
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